Year after year, decade after decade, maison Chanel writes the history of fashion. Always the same and yet always different, the brand's iconic pieces have made women all over the world dream, and continue to do so. Symbols of a femininity that is resolute, independent, unconventional and refined at the same time.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana - Dolce & Gabbana, and also D&G for a while - represent everything that one loves and hates about Italy. Luxury, unconditional love for “fatto a mano” (handmade), craftsmanship, couture and tailoring. And also tradition (that sometimes becomes traditionalism), opulence (sometimes evolves into ostentation) and patriotism (that is sometimes mere campanilism).

Despite having undergone many evolutions and radical transformations over the years, Gucci is mainly associated with the years of the Dolce Vita. At that time, the brand became an emblem of Made in Italy, with products such as the Bamboo bag, the iconic loafer and the Flora scraf flaunted by the likes of Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Jane Birkin and Jackie Onassis, muse of the famous Jackie O bag.

When talking about Jean Paul Gaultier, known also, and not by chance, as fashion’s Enfant Terrible, talking about upheavel is more appropriate than talking about fashion. From men skirts, to striped Breton t-shirts, to various re-interpretations of the corset including the one with the cone-shaped breasts drawn for Madonna, the most ironic and transversal designer is credited with having literally flipped the concept of style over.

The story of Prada, as in both “story of Miuccia Prada” and “story of Prada the brand” is pretty much the story of Italian fashion.

Valentino’s style has little in common with short-term seasonal trends, focusing rather on the search for absolute beauty - between artwork and fashion, poetry and ornament. Valentino’s are dresses for red carpets, for Oscar nights, Film Festivasl, and fashion museums, but they also pay homage to that particular side of everyday life in Italy which is made of traditions, crafts.

In the age of creative directors, when knowing how to communicate fashion has become almost more important than knowing how to create it, Yves Saint Laurent could definetly pride himself of the title of designer - one of the last real French couturiers, capable of applying heritage and tradition to the great social revolutions of his times. If it is only fair to credit Chanel for introducing women to the 20th century, it is just as fair to credit Saint Laurent, creator of the female tuxedo, with the discovery of the strength of individuality without any distintion of colour or gender.